It was a difficult and complicated situation.
The match between the LG Twins and Hanwha Eagles in Jamsil on the 20th. The match between the two teams ended 1-1 without even being able to cover the 12th overtime.
However, after the match between the two teams that day, what became an issue was not the content of the intense match, but the misjudgment of the referee.
The situation was this. Bottom of 9th inning LG attack. Leader Shin Min-jae hit against Hanwha closer Park Sang-won and went out. A great opportunity to finish. It was the moment when the strategic baseball of ‘Yeomgalyang’ would shine.
LG replaced Lee Jae-won with pinch hitter Jung Joo-hyun. He chose Jung Joo-hyun, who is good at performing operations such as bunt or hit and run. And after hitting the 1B situation, a running sign came out. However, Hanwha Battery saw through this. Hanwha catcher Choi Jae-hoon was completely lost and tried to receive the ball. At this time, Jung Joo-hyun, who had to make contact somehow, threw a bat. And the bat hit Choi Jae-hoon’s hand as he tried to throw it.
It was an ambiguous situation. It is often the case that when an opponent is pitching out, hitters throw their bats and hit the ball. Jung Joo-hyun’s actions are not against the rules. However, it was a problem because the bat hit the opposing catcher.
It gets complicated here. If Joo-Hyun Jung’s throwing of the bat is judged as a swing, if Jae-Hoon Choi came forward to throw and was hit by the bat, it can be regarded as interference with the bat. If you look at the rules, if the catcher does not have the ball and goes on or in front of the home base (home base), it is a hitting interference. Choi Jae-hoon obviously stepped into the batter’s box in the left batter’s box before catching the ball. As a result of the 4-sim agreement, it seems that the referees focused on Choi Jae-hoon’s play. It is an interpretation that if Choi Jae-hoon did not come forward too much, he would not have been hit by a thrown bat. There is some truth to it. I don’t know if it’s a mistake that didn’t confirm that the bat fell from Jung Joo-hyun’s hand, but it was a decision made with their own interpretation and grounds because they saw it clearly.
However, if you look more closely at the addition of other rules, the situation changes again. First, only when the catcher goes on or in front of the plate is interference at bat. Choi Jae-hoon is far off the right side of the base. Assuming that Joo-Hyun Jung hit normally, it is a position that the bat cannot reach.
And if you look at the batter’s foul play rule, it is stated that if the batter hits the catcher (including the mitt) by throwing the bat into the fair or foul area in the presence of a third strike pitch or runners, the batter is out. This rule applies just in this situation.
However, it is ambiguous. There is no clear distinction between hitting and deliberately throwing a bat. If a player misses the bat because the ball comes in too far while swinging, what should he do?
In the end, it was a complex scene that had to be comprehensively judged and interpreted. So Hanwha coach Choi Won-ho, who came out to protest, must have listened to the explanation and went in. If he knew the rules very accurately, he would not have insisted on his innocence until the end. In the end, the KBO refereeing committee said it was a misjudgment. This is not to defend referees who made a mistake, but this controversy is that it wasn’t the worst mistake in the ‘blind with open eyes’ judgment that calls a safe an out and a ball a strike. Referees are people too. It would be best if you knew the rules 100% like a computer, but this is a confusing part. The fortunate thing is that if LG’s final victory came out in the 9th inning because of this misjudgment, the problem would have been greatly increased, but Hanwha overcame the crisis well. How embarrassing would it be if you lost like that?안전놀이터
The KBO, which is sensitive to the issue of referee decisions, quickly acknowledged the mistake and announced that it would discipline the referees. This announcement is more objectionable than the osim. It is KBO that quietly restored the referee, who had been punished for indefinite demotion to the 2nd division due to an incorrect decision, in a month. As soon as the referee came up, he gave the strike decision and even ‘gap-jil’ to the player. What kind of punishment will it have?
What raised more eyebrows than the misjudgment was the fight between referee Kwon Young-cheol and LG Park Hae-min in front of the first base dugout at the end of the 12th inning. Park Hae-min, who continued to expose his uncomfortable feelings about the strike decision, did nothing well. It was a little low, but on this day, referee Kwon maintained a consistent zone for both teams. However, it was not normal for the referee to go all the way to the dugout of the players and engage in a war of words while pointing fingers. If he was going to ask for understanding by saying, “I’m having a hard time too,” he should have excluded the authoritative figure.